THE BEST BASSLINES IN DANCE MUSIC OF ALL TIME…

THE BEST BASSLINES IN DANCE MUSIC OF ALL TIME…

First we came for you drops, and now we’ve come for your basslines. A killer bassline can be the making of a track, either laying the infectious foundation or powering ahead as the foremost feature. Some have become etched into the nucleus of music history, taking on many new lives in samples, and some just outright slap. We asked for your favourites and you turned up a bunch of gems. A few were already featured in the drops list so we kept it fresh with new selections. Check out a bunch of the picks below.

DONNA SUMMER ‘I FEEL LOVE’

‘I Feel Love’ is taken from Donna Summer’s fifth album, ‘I Remember Yesterday’, a concept album that aimed to evoke a different time period with each track, ending with the sound of the future on the LP’s now legendary finale.

Now one of electronic music’s most recognisable tracks, you’ve all heard Donna’s soaring vocal, the sweeping synths behind it and the iconic bassline which pushes the whole thing forward and was made using the Moog Modular 3P. Producers Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte had to borrow a 3P and bring in engineer Robby Wedel to show them how to use it and help them record. “The Moog was really fun to work but the problem was it would go out of tune every few minutes,” Moroder said of the process. “It was a disaster. With ‘I Feel Love’ I think we’d do twenty or thirty seconds, then stop. Then we’d go back, tune it and drop it in. It was quite a job.”

The sound of synths like the Moog Modular 3P weren’t commonly used in pop music and no one realised ‘I Feel Love’ was a hit until it took off in clubs in America and Europe (it was originally released on single as a B-side). The track inadvertently set the template for what we now know as dance music, with Brian Eno proclaiming “I have heard the sound of the future. This is it, look no further. This single is going to change the sound of club music for the next fifteen years.” Little did he know that it would endure for much longer…

ALAN BRAXE & FRED FALKE ‘INTRO’

This is a big one. Minimalist drums and an ethereal The Jets sample set the scene for a whopping French Touch bassline that works as well by the pool as it does in a packed club illuminated by a giant disco ball. ‘Intro’ is part of a run of French Touch stormers released via Vulture and Roulé (Thomas Bangalter’s label) and one of a number of iconic collabs between Braxe and Falke. As simple and effective as serotonin shots come. Absolutely undeniable.

UNDERGROUND RESISTANCE ‘TIMELINE’

‘Timeline’ slaps from the jump. It’s one of those epic records that you can play from start to finish and not get bored for a second. And when you do use it in the mix it jumps out wildly from the track that precedes it. Hit play for that heavy, soulful kick, those strings plucked from heaven and uplifting keys from somewhere in outer space. When the bass rolls in it’s game over, a total KO, pure ecstasy. This is it. Perfection. Nirvana. Weighty house from the D that’s charged with energy and uplift. ‘Timeline’? More like timeless – 2001 to infinity!

GROOVE ARMADA ‘SUPERSTYLIN’’

It’s 2001. Era of the superstar DJ, the super club and hands-in-the-air party music like ‘Superstylin’. It’s acceptable to wear terrible Hawaiian shirts in mainstream music videos and pints of lager are £1 each (probably). Life is good. Life is made even better when the bassline of ‘Superstylin’ drops, a cheeky nod to speed garage that’s so heavy it threatens to redline even when it’s played quietly. This is Groove Armada’s go at merging house with Jamaican soundsystem culture, voiced by the band’s MC M.A.D, and one of the Big Beat movement’s biggest tunes, which promptly flew to number 12 in the UK chart.

PET SHOP BOYS ‘WEST END GIRLS’

You’ve got Pet Shop Boys’ Chris Lowe to thank for the bassline of ‘West End Girls’. He came up with the thick, groovy riff after being inspired by the slo-mo funk of the bassline on ‘The Message’ by Grandmaster Flash, which was released two years prior to ‘West End Girls’ in 1992. It’s hard to believe that you could only get the Pet Shop Boys’ anthem as a US 12” import when it was first released, but after becoming a club hit it came out officially and became a number one single for the duo.

DEE-LITE ‘GROOVE IS IN THE HEART’

House and hip hop reigned supreme in New York in 1990 and acts like Dee-Lite celebrated both by coming up with vibrant, anthemic records like ‘Groove Is In The Heart’. A trio of club aficionados, the band channelled their experiences of DJ and dancing in the city’s venues into their music and ‘Groove Is In The Heart’ embodies their sheer joy of music. The bassline here comes from Herbie Hancock’s ‘Bring Down The Birds’ and that’s not the only sample. ‘Groove…’ also famously borrows from Vernon Burch, Billy Preston, the Green Aces TV theme and ‘The Art Of Belly Dancing’. Q-Tip provides a guest verse, Bootsy Collins gives guest vocals and there’s plenty sonic psychedelia going on besides. A vivid jamboree of a tune.

MOLOKO ‘TIME IS NOW’

Another hit from the heady days of the new millennium, on ‘Time Is Now’ Moloko set out to make an Epic Club Banger using instruments and players. Here they’re accompanied by a quartet and that strolling bassline sounds like the first Aperol Spritz of summer to us. Blue skies, a cool breeze and no worries other than where the next bev is coming from. Happy times.

GEORGE MOREL ‘LET’S GROOVE’

Another one that’s irresistible from the jump. ‘Let’s Groove’ builds and builds thanks to itchy percussion and a Proper Naughty Bassline that just won’t quit. It’s a Strictly Rhythm anthem and a prototype garage banger, a joy to dance to every single time thanks to its seemingly endless build.

BASSHEADS ‘IS THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE?’

Who’s ready to throw it back to ‘91? This vintage acid house number stretches out for nine wonderful minutes and really allows you to get lost in the moment. The bouncing, ravey bassline helped push it to number 5 in the UK charts, but not before the Bassheads got in a touch of hot water for not clearing samples of Talking Heads, Afrika Bambaataa and Pink Floyd. Legendary.

STARDUST ‘MUSIC SOUNDS BETTER WITH YOU’

‘Music Sounds Better With You’ is the only release by Stardust, the trio of Thomas Bangalter, Alan Braxe and Benjamin Diamond. Talk about a one hit wonder! The supergroup came up with the track during a night at Rex Club in Paris and the rest is French Touch history. It’s a huge crossover tune and for good reason: it’s the epitome of why dance music is great. There are absolutely no worries anywhere near this track – leave your troubles at the door, take my hand and let’s dance forever.

Read this next: DJ Zinc picks the 10 best basslines ever

CHIC ‘GOOD TIMES’

This is one of the most sampled basslines in the history of music. From ‘Rapper’s Delight’ to ‘Another One Bites The Dust’, it’s formed the crux of many major hits over the hits (not least in of itself with the single selling more than 5 million copies – the most in the history of Atlantic Records). It undoubtedly has a strong claim to being one of the best basslines ever committed to record. Bernard Edwards is responsible for the irresistible groove, which sounds like the essence of soul, disco and r’n’b distilled into bassline form.

LFO ‘LFO’ (LEEDS WAREHOUSE MIX)

While Daft Punk’s ‘Around The World’ proved you can have an iconic vocal by just repeating three words, LFO managed it with just three letters. The bassline is even more impactful, throbbing through the foundations of this “Leeds Warehouse mix” and transporting listens back to the height of the 90s’ illegal rave scene. That spirit is alive and well in the comments below this track on YouTube: “HOW DO YOU SPELL LEEDS? TWO E’S AND LSD !!”. What a city, what a track.

MADONNA ‘GET INTO THE GROOVE’

“Only when I’m dancing can I feel this free”. This is an all-time top Madonna song and all-time top dance-pop tune too. And it almost didn’t exist as we know it. Madonna initially wrote the song for Chyne, a protégée of her friend and record producer Mark Kamins, but later decided to take it for herself to the fury of Kamins. She shrugged off his anger, saying: “I’m tough, I’m ambitious and I know exactly what I want. If that makes me a bitch, that’s okay.” It’s more than okay Madge, because we’re eternally grateful for this banger and the impact it has on dancefloors.

CHEMICAL BROTHERS ‘BLOCK ROCKIN’ BEATS’

The bassline here forms one of the most memorable intros in the Chemical Brothers’ canon, and continues to serve as a rock solid foundation throughout the explosive track. The clip of the duo playing it to Trafalgar Square in 2007 is some of favourite rave footage ever. It shows a crowd of 9,000 people absolutely losing it bang in the centre of London in front of one of the city’s most recognisable monuments. Chaos.

DOUBLE 99 ‘RIPGROOVE’

UK garage is, obviously, the best genre ever, and ‘Ripgroove’ is among its finest moments. When that build-up gives way to allow the cataclysmic bassline to storm through around the minute mark, the club erupts every single time. The recent edit by Fixate has also given it a new life and soundtracked the most hype moment in Boiler Room history via the peerless Sherelle.

TORI AMOS ‘PROFESSIONAL WIDOW’ (ARMAND VAN HELDEN REMIX)

When it comes to Armand Van Helden and basslines, they’ve gotta be big. He always delivers, and this one hasn’t left regular rotation for more than two and a half decades. It’s such a good vibe that when a zealous raver committed the cardinal sin of fucking with Saoirse’s mixer during her 2017 AVA Festival stream she just smiles and claps. Impossible to be anything other than joyous when this track is on rotation.

DJ FALCON & THOMAS BANGALTER ‘TOGETHER’

A beautiful example of the ‘less can be more’ principle. Sampling a few seconds of the bassline from the theme tune to theme tune to Beverly Hills 90210 and deploying it under an equally short repeating vocal loop with some heavy reverb, the effect is magical.

MODERAT ‘BAD KINGDOM’ (DJ KOZE REMIX)

When this bassline properly kicks in it hits with the almighty scuzz of an arena rock band. Its impending power is teased through the opening minutes, before cutting through in all its weighty glory. Hearing it pulsate out of a soundsystem alongside Apparat’s transcendent vocal is a next-level clubbing experience.

JOEY BELTRAM ‘ENERGY FLASH’

Womp womp womp, womp womp. Womp womp womp, womp womp. The amount of times this bassline has blown the doors off a rave are countless. Paired with that repeating “ecstasy” vocal, it makes for a surging come-up of a track that is yet to get old.

RICARDO VILLALOBOS ‘DEXTER’

A more subtle entrant than most the examples in this list, the bassline on Ricardo Villalobos’ ‘Dexter’ still packs serious emotional power. Moving elegantly through the minimal masterpiece, its subtlty is completely absorbing. You can get lost for days in these sounds.

M.A.N.D.Y. VS. BOOKA SHADE ‘BODY LANGUAGE’

If you were out raving in 2005, it’s likely you’ve had a fair few seshes when the ridiculously cheeky bassline of M.A.N.D.Y and Booka Shade’s ‘Body Language’ has rolled in. It’s reverberated through the walls of fabric and blasted from balconies of Ibiza, becoming an instant classic in this little world we call dance music. Your mum or dad (probably) wouldn’t have a scooby what it is, but you know it’ll be top of the tracklist of Now That’s What I Call Prog House. And that’s all that matters.

LEFTFIELD ‘SONG OF LIFE’

“THEY DON’T MAKE ‘EM LIKE THE ’90S ANYMORE”. The amount of times I’ve seen that written, rolled my eyes and thought just search hard enough. Here I am playing Leftfield’s ‘Song Of Life’, though, and I’m close to typing that out myself. It builds up, uP, UP with haunting vocals and floaty pads, before a wobbly synth bassline teases it’s way in, accompanied by monstrous kicks and pacy hi-hats. Before you know it, the bassline’s free of all shackles, left to fly around and do as it pleases. Relentless.

NEW ORDER ‘BLUE MONDAY’

‘Blue Monday’: a New Order deep cut, a rarity, one you’ll be lucky to hear played out. We jest, of course. The Manchester group’s track has been rinsed to the core, but who’s complaining? No, seriously. Who’s complaining? That niggly synth bassline, played on a Moog Source, is unforgettable, one that’s been heard everywhere from The Haçienda and house parties to The Wedding Singer. Most likely your uncle’s wedding, too.

BEATS INTERNATIONAL ‘DUB BE GOOD TO ME’

Before the escapades of Fatboy Slim came Beats International. Norman Cook’s Brighton group hit number one with 1990 single ‘Dub Be Good To Me’, a rework of The SOS Band’s ‘Just Be Good To Me’. As the title suggests, the track is a hefty whomp of dub, powered by a deep, booming bassline that grumbles from start to finish. 30 years later and it still demands a play. Light that BBQ up, it’s dub season!

DEPECHE MODE ‘USELESS’ (KRUDER & DORFMEISTER MIX)

There’s something real menacing about the groaning bassline in the Kruder & Dorfmeister Mix of Depeche Mode’s ‘Useless’. It’s got that creeping eeriness, like something bad is waiting around the corner, matching the dark vocals that come with it. A downtempo dream, many say it’s the best Depeche Mode remix ever. Fun fact: it was used in a Victoria’s Secret ad in the United States.

THE PRODIGY ‘BREATHE’

What nightmares are made of. But inject it into my veins, C’MON!!! The Prodigy reached another level thanks to their 1997 album ‘The Fat Of The Land’, and ‘Breathe’, a cloudy whirlwind of twisted Keith Flint vocals, whacking kicks and a funk-licked bassline, definitely played a part in their frenetic rock-rave taking on the world. This footage at Phoenix Festival in ’96 looks like absolute carnage.

MR OIZO ‘FLAT BEAT’

We all know this one. It probably made you buy a pair of jeans back in the day, thanks to that iconic Levi’s advert with Flat Eric. Fashion aside, ‘Flat Beat’ comes loaded with an erratic bassline buzzing all over the place. Disclaimer: it’s likely you’ll be thinking there’s a bees’ nest in the corner of your room after listening to it. Don’t let that put you off, though.

JUNIOR JACK ‘THRILL ME’

Dreaming of Ibiza? Pressing play on Junior Jack’s ‘Thrill Me’ will make you feel that little bit closer to the White Isle. It’s just one of those tunes made for 6am wide-eyed smiles, matey smooches flying all over the place, sweaty hugs, the lot. There’s just something about that up-down bassline that just wants you to keep on going and going and going.

MANTRONIX ‘GOT TO HAVE YOUR LOVE’

Kurtis El Khaleel of Mantronix said he wrote ‘Got To Have Your Love’ with the goal of getting it on the radio. The NYC group did that, for sure. It got so much love, it reached number four in the UK Singles Chart, higher than its position of six in the Billboard Hot Dance Music-Club Play. Sublime, soul-licked vocals from Wondress definitely gave it the flavour it needed for mainstream success, but it’s also charged by a delectable bassline that would’ve contributed to rocketing sales.

I ONLY LISTENED TO MUSIC FROM MY TEENS FOR A WEEK AND IT MADE ME FEEL AMAZING

Sitting around at home for all this time is pretty jarring, innit? Particularly if, like me and likely tonnes more in shared housing, your working from home office is in your bedroom. Eat, sleep, work, don’t leave, repeat. Some days are chill, some days I feel like my brain’s been zapped and sucked of all energy and I can’t even go for my usual swim, the one thing that usually sparks me back into life. Still, this whole lockdown thing has, at least, proved I’m pretty sub-standard at quizzes, can run just over 6km without keeling over and actually enjoy watching a DJ DJ for an hour on a screen. But all this hasn’t quite hit the sweet spot I’ve been craving, the hit needed to bring some proper joy into this incredibly draining situation. Then I heard someone say revisiting the stuff you loved at school is a way to inject some happiness into you and can be a “stabilising force”.

Reading into this, I came across psychologist Dr. Krystyne Batcho saying: “We can trigger beneficial nostalgia by listening to the songs we loved during better times. Music from our teen years reminds us of our belief in and desire for the best that love can be.” That’s it then. I say farewell to my beloved NTS Radio for a week and embark on a deep dive down the rabbit hole, one filled with pungent UK garage cheese, rowdy drum ‘n’ bass, grime, The Streets, compilations pinched from my brother and sister and a whole lot more that soundtracked my teens in the mid-to-late ’00s in my sleepy Hertfordshire village.

I’m not gonna pretend I’m one of those Aphex Twin’s Selected Ambient Works 85-92 Was My First Album crew. If you really wanna know, it was ‘Shaggy’s ‘Hot Shot’. But a compilation that really stuck with me and had a formative impact on my music taste was ‘Pure Garage III’ mixed by DJ EZ, won by my brother in a Kiss FM competition (correct me if I’m wrong, bruv!). So Day One opens with the iconic ‘DJ…EZ…DJ…EZ…DJ…EZ’ soundbites, a repetitive phrase heard more in my house growing up than the hoover on a Sunday morning. This was technically a second-hand soundtrack to me in my pre-teens, but moulded my taste early doors. Imitating the vocals of M-Dubs’ ‘Bump ‘N’ Grind’ at my desk gives me that same giddy feeling it did almost 20 years ago. This leads to revisiting the tunes I rinsed as a 12 and 13-year-old – the UKG remix of Shola Ama’s ‘Run To Me’, DJ Luck & MC Neat’s whole back catalogue and speed garage classic ‘Move Your Body’ by Mark ‘Ruff’ Ryder and MC Vapour.16 years later and I still can’t get those outrageous lyrics right. Still, it brings memories of me – decked out full NYC tracksuit – necking Lambrini in car parks before Fusion, an under-18s ‘rave’ at the local footy club, flooding back. And the carefree days crowded round MSN Messenger and social media site Piczo on one computer, where the only worry was getting home in time for dinner in front of Hollyoaks on the box at 6.30pm.

Oxide & Neutrino’s ‘Execute’ album kickstarts Day Two, making me realise the Casualty and Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels-sampling ‘Bound 4 Da Reload’ may well be the reason for me loving bad-boy basslines. A compilation lifted from my sister’s CD collection – ‘Lovin’ It 2 – The Cream of R&B and UK Garage’ – gets a play next. With a tracklist featuring Daniel Bedingfield’s ‘Gotta Get Through This’ and The Wideboys’ ‘Sambuca’, it’s impossible not to sing along and think, ‘Hang on, this nostalgia business might actually be working.’ Shit, I really miss having Double Take and MC Kie’s version of Evelyn ‘Champagne’ King’s ‘Love Come Down’ as the ringtone on my orange and white Sony Ericsson blower.

If it wasn’t for inserting Grooverider’s ‘fabriclive 06’ CD – left behind by my brother when he departed for uni – into my mini Bush stereo, a long-lasting love for drum ‘n’ bass and jungle might not have started. I might not be sat here writing this, tbh. Day Three sees me skanking out to tunes like Danny C’s ‘The Mexican’, Optimus Prime’s ‘Amen Slag’ and Influx Datum’s ‘Back For More’, bringing me as much joy and energy as it did the first time round when I was completely perplexed at what a ‘fabriclive’ was. The Streets’ ‘A Grand Don’t Come For Free’ comes next, an album I’ll always remember listening to for the first time when my brother came home with a ripped CD. I loved it so much I ripped the rip, put it in a case and printed out the front and back cover to make it legit. Turns out this album still gives me the same feels as it did in 2004, ‘Blinded By The Lights’ still providing the craving to get in a club, those big, dark, loud places a 12-year-old could only dream of. Funnily enough, my best mate sends a link of the tune saying he misses me when I’m listening to it.

Day 4 and it’s The Streets protégés The Mitchell Brothers taking me down memory lane. In come the chipmunk chorus vocals of ‘Alone With The TV’ and there I am, MP3 player in hand, JD Sports drawstring bag on my back, waiting for the minibus to school. The most random of memories to come into my head, but I’m so here for it. Kano’s ‘Home Sweet Home’ is the next selection and ‘Reload It’ has me bouncing at my desk, followed by the heartstring-tugging ‘Nite Nite’, a most played on Windows Media Player after Limewire download sessions back in the day. Kano was obviously a star of Channel U – the legendary grime channel – so it’s only right I jump through some Channel U classics – Swiss’ ‘Cry’, Blak Twang’s ‘G.C.S.E’, Choong Family’s ‘Memory Lane’ and N Dubz ‘I Swear’ (don’t judge, it’s a banger!). All this reminds me of is cooking frozen pizzas and watching Channel U for hours on end. Ironically, watching TV for hours on end at the moment is doing my nut in.

Days 5 and 6 and I’m revisiting my hip hop faves from ’04 and ’05. Kanye’s ‘The College Dropout’ is up first. ‘All Falls Down’ and ‘Through The Wire’ still have me belting out the chorus at the top of my voice, which I’m sure my new housemate is loving. Then it’s The Game’s ‘The Documentary’, making me think back to the inflatable blue sofa (Mad uncomfortable, no idea why they were so popular) I used to listen to tunes on in my bedroom.

It’s Day 7 now and this is solely dedicated to drum ‘n’ bass. The lovely drum ‘n’ bass. The Goldie-mixed ‘Drum & Bass Arena: The Classics’, filled with tunes like Goldie’s ‘Inner City Life’, LTJ Bukem’s ‘Atlantis (I Need You)’, DJ Marky’s ‘LK’ and Roni Size’s ‘Brown Paper Bag’ takes me back to putting it on in GCSE art class and the majority of classmates not having a clue what’s going on. I did make a good raving pal through that, though, which reminds me: message the pal to remind them how sick this compilation is. Now it’s Chase & Status’ debut album ‘More Than Alot’, the album that dominated the speakers in our sixth form common room, despite fucked-off side-eyes from the Anti-D’N’B Brigade. Well, I’m bringing that vibe to my house as I crank up the volume and blast out the revving ‘Take Me Away’ which makes me Lose. My. Shit. The same can be said for C&S’s guitar-heavy remix of Nneka’s ‘Heartbeat’. Anthem. That moves me onto Adele’s ‘Hometown Glory’. Don’t start rolling your eyes at me, thinking ‘WTF is he talking about?’ I’m talking about the High Contrast remix, a tune so heavily entwined with my entry to raving (shout out the Hospitality crew!) it still gives me shivers listening to it now.

I realise it’s the end of my week listening to strictly tunes from the vaults. I won’t lie, I’m gonna miss it. It made me feel good, like amazingly good. Bouncing up and down on my seat, dancing around my kitchen good. A wave of nostalgic euphoria every time an old favourite came on, reminding me of the most minor things, old mates I’ve lost touch with, the best times with mates I’m still tight with today. School times. Knock-down-ginger times. First getting into music times. Raving for the first time. Maybe I’ll just listen to music from my past all the time. Or maybe I’ll just put another NTS show on.

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